First of all, how is a ‘cock on the line’ defined? What kind of person can be called a ‘屌丝’? Is it a purely lack of intelligence, or purely a lack of knowledge? Is it being poor – among the have-nots? I believe, however, that being a 屌丝 has nothing to do with how high your IQ is, nor even how rich you are. It is an attitude, which can be summarized as follows: a person who does not know his own direction, or does not know how big the world really is. He is fundamentally self-centred, and believes the world revolves around him. He is very rarely conscious of his own shortcomings and can’t reflect on mistakes and learn from them, and so on a very basic level, he is unclear about the distance that separates him from others. There is no way for him to approach the real world, and he lives purely in a world of his own construction. He loves fantasy, he has schemes and intentions, but cannot put them into action. Seeing that he is making no headway whilst others progress and mature, he becomes resentful, narrow-minded and a heart labouring under a serious inferiority complex. It is this kind of person that I call 屌丝.

The Characteristics of a 屌丝

1、Prejudice

Why do I say they are prejudiced? As their worldview is extremely small – so small that they can only see objects right in front of their eyes – they are absolutely like frogs at the bottom of a well. Being self-centred, their worldview starts with themselves. How far it extends depends entirely on their own individual intelligence, knowledge and cognition. Furthermore, if you desire to leap out of your own enclosed little world, you must first have the desire to see a wider world, you need a dynamic view of life, a little foresight into the future, it requires a degree of insight and deep perceptiveness. If you want to understand the world, and to understand the future – neither which are easy – you must be capable of thinking both logically and abstractly, 我把这个管作悟性. It is just like when discussing the global economy and you wish to focus on global and future trends, but there are some people who don’t really understand it, and don’t possess the right way of thinking to deal with it. Their thinking is static, and so they cannot see the future.

2、Narrow-mindedness

The vernacular is incapable of tolerance. It has no manner in which to accomodate differing opinions and viewpoints, no room to make allowances for the mistakes of others, no matter how small. In the workplace, in relationships, huge numbers of cases can be seen where narrow-mindedness has led to imbalance: people divorce over arguments about who does the washing up, split up over an unintentional word taken too much to heart, they resent their colleagues for being talented, and are envious of other’s success. The three greatest difficulties people face in life are those of wealth, position and survival. However, very few people are equal across all three issues, and so people lacking in self-knowledge end up unconsciously comparing themselves to others, and wind up feeling depressed and at a loss, and thus is an inferiority complex born. Feelings of inferiority make people extremely over-sensitive. Conversations, choice of words, even other people’s actions all get magnified, and they assume that it is all personally directed at themselves. Doubts are redoubled, they become paranoid about everything, insecure, worried over every trifle, their mental state all over the place. They themselves are also miserable and unhappy, but they blame their suffering on society and the outside world. They are unable to engage in self-reflection, and see themselves as they really are.

How 屌丝 Become 屌丝

The life of a 屌丝 is spent mired deep in resentment, hatred, hostility, intolerance, narrow-mindedness, feelings of inferiority, hypocrisy and selfishness – not a healthy way for anyone to be. I do believe that most people are not like this. Self-mockery is one way of resolving such feelings, but you often resorts to self-mockery, you risk losing a sense of proportion and becoming a real 屌丝, as you are continually suggesting to yourself – you really are a 屌丝. So, where do 屌丝 come from? Surely it isn’t all a result of autosuggestion? Of course not.

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